Definition of Vacant

[RSW]

I appraised a condo in San Francisco. The owner met me. The only furniture in the place was a mattress in a bedroom. I asked if he was living there and may have commented on the lack of furniture. (What! no table?) He said he had been staying somewher while working on the floors, and that's why there wasn't anything in the apartment. I marked the appraisal report "occupied." The underwriter has asked me to comment on occupancy, since she noticed the lack of furniture and thought it looked vacant. (I didn't include the picture of the bedroom with the mattress.) If he said he was "staying" somewhere while working on the floors, does that make it vacant? If the says he's living there, does that make it occupied? Should I have related the owner's comment, or pressed him on more details. Does occupied mean you have a key and you come there to sleep? What if you come there to sleep every 5 days? I guess the bottom line is, where can I find a precise definition of "Vacant" and "Occupied" ?

Were the floors finished when you did your inspection? If not, did you comment on them in the appraisal report? If the floors were finished, why has he not moved all of his furniture back into the dwelling?

 

[Riick]

.......
I think the check boxes are OK as they are unless they were willing to add one for "undeterminable."

A better form revision would be to put the question immediately above a comment section. You'd think they would have done so since occupancy status is always cited as one of the most frequent fraud items.

Don't you all just love the 2005 version of the 1004?
The 1993 version was designed/worked on by appraisers;, it contained more information about the property & the site,
and it grouped information, so the report flowed logically from point to point to point

The 2005 version looks like someone slapped it together in a ½ hour......
"We want information on recent listings, analysis of agreement, Flips,
and #Comps active/sold. Put that stuff in the Form, and take out
whatever junk you want; It's gotta fit on 2 pages"

Questions located here and then there, instead of organized in a group
so you could address them in one recognizable area, an area that might even tell the story.
Such a wonderful upgrade.

 

[William Little]

vacation homes

I see a lot of vacation/second homes in this market. The owner typically visits the Colorado residence about two weeks in the year, and has a home address in Texas. The place is fully furnished, there is canned and dried foodstuff in the pantry/kitchen, and a fishing pole standing beside the front door. If there are no locked closets and no guest register, I say it is owner occupied. If there is a locked closet it is usually for the owner's personal property. The guest register suggests you start collecting data for the income approach. If there are sheets over all the furniture the owner probably doesn't have a property manager. The contact person that let you in is frequently a maid service or property manager and will be pretty candid with occpancy information if you ask.

In your specific case I'd ask a neighbor, mailman or UPS guy if anybody lived there.

In another scenario, a house may have a family member living in it, rent free, and the actual owner of record (an ex-spouse, military spouse, traveling salesman, etc.) does not live there on the date of inspection. I have called the place owner occupied even though the owner of record is not physically there, and felt that it was the right thing to do.

 

[Flygirl 152]

I have the same problem with vacation homes. They may be rented out during the week in the summer with the owners staying there a few weeks out of the year. When I inspect them, nobody is there. The house is furnished but there isn't any clothing in the closets, no sheets on the bed, no food in the fridge.

Lately I have have been putting a paragraph in the addendum explaining the occupancy status. I would prefer "unoccupied" to be an option other than tenant, vacant or owner.

To be technical, vacant would mean that the subject is empty. Unoccupied means that nobody is occupying the property.

There is a beach side condo development in my area which is utilized as mostly vacation properties. The unit I was appraising was fully furnished, but the folks only spend 1-2 weekends there a month. I struggled with trying to decide which box to check, so I used the over ride function and checked owner and vacant since the owners occupy it twice a month, and do not rent it out. On the condo form it asks if it is a second home or recreational, and I of course check that box. I go into detail elsewhere about the development being only 1% owner occupied.

 

[V. Nightshade]

Webbed, you're right. I probably screwed up. Owner is not a reliable source. I erred in not looking in the medicine cabinet and the cabinets. Bed was slept in. Now I have to fix it. Aargh. Worst career mistake: thinking it was a good idea to become an appraiser in 2004.

 

[Ken B]

I would check public records and see if the owner owns more than one property. My concern would be that this is a vacant investment property. Or maybe its a "loveshack." Whichever, I would hesitate to classify the property as "occupied."

And a big "oops" on the timing of the career decision.

 

[V. Nightshade]

Good idea, for future, since I just sent in my addendum. I wonder how many counties I would have to check Maybe I should have become a private investigator. Appraiser seemed like a great idea at the time.

 

[Ken B]

I have occasionally considered PI work as a side business myself. Being an appraiser would be a pretty good cover. And both jobs require good research and detective skills.

You have the better name for the job, though. Of course, mine is more non-descript, so that could be an advantage also.

 

[Edward OConor]

Vacant could simply mean the lights are on, but nobody's home?

What/who are you talking about real property or some of the posters?

Sorry, I just couldn't resist.